Modern angiographic practice calls for the extensive use of guidewires during the catheterization of human arteries and arterial branches. A typical steerable guide wire consists of a flexible distal section, usually a spring, connected to a long slender section of wire or tubing which is manipulated for axial advancement and retraction, and rotational torque transmission. This combination of features allows the guidewire to negotiate through the compound curves involved in the human arterial system, and when finally in place, to act as a guide for flexible diagnostic and therapeutic catheters which are slipped over it.
Since the proximal ends of the guidewires are typically small diameter wire or tubing (often hard-drawn stainless steel) and have a hard, polished, surface, they are very difficult to grasp securely. Medical device manufacturers currently provide a variety of so-called "pin vises", or "torquers", or "handles" which are intended to grip and manipulate the wires, but they all suffer from one or more deficiencies.